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Sold Powder Blue 1700-1725
Page 1
There is a special category within Kangxi blue and white, namely 'powder blue'. This name refers to a specific technique used to decorate porcelain. Cobalt blue oxide was not applied to the surface of the dried object with a brush but was blown onto it through a hollow pipe that was covered at the opposite end with a piece of gauze. Once the object had been glazed and fired the surface showed tiny dots and patches of blue that suggest depth and create an interesting texture. Before blowing the blue, panels and cartouches could be reserved by covering the surface with paper cutouts of the desired shape. The areas beneath these were still white after firing and were subsequently filled with enamelled decorations, usually of the famille verte type, sometimes in iron red, showing birds, flowering plants, landscapes or figural scenes. Gold could be added in a third firing process but it has usually worn off by now. Powder blue rarely occurs any more after 1725. It was supplanted by 'Batavia Brown', an evenly applied underglaze brown colour with panels that were filled with decorations in the more modern famille rose enamels.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Powder Blue 1700-1725 - Page 1
Object 2011686
Dish
China
1720-1735
Height 51 mm (2.01 inch), diameter of rim 285 mm (11.22 inch), diameter of footring 161 mm (6.34 inch), weight 860 grams (30.34 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, straight underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Covered with underglaze powder blue. Decorated with a central flowering lotus on the sides three flowering lotus alternating with panels filled with (rubbed off) dense leafy scrolls, round the rim a (rubbed off) laurel border with flower heads, all in overglaze gold. On the reverse rim a floral border with flowering lotus flanked by flower sprays and with reserves each filled with two flower sprays in underglaze blue and iron-red.
There is a special category within Kangxi blue and white, namely 'powder blue'. This name refers to a specific technique used to decorate porcelain. Cobalt blue oxide was not applied to the surface of the dried object with a brush but was blown onto it through a hollow pipe that was covered at the opposite end with a piece of gauze. Once the object had been glazed and fired the surface showed tiny dots and patches of blue that suggest depth and create an interesting texture. Before blowing the blue, panels and cartouches could be reserved by covering the surface with paper cutouts of the desired shape. The areas beneath these were still white after firing and were subsequently filled with underglaze blue or enamelled decorations, usually of the famille verte type, sometimes in iron red, showing birds, flowering plants, landscapes or figural scenes. Gold could be added in a third firing process but it has usually worn off by now. Powder blue rarely occurs any more after 1725. It was supplanted by 'Batavia Brown', an evenly applied underglaze brown colour with panels that were filled with decorations in the more modern famille rose enamels.
Condition: A hairline to the rim.
Reference:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 148
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Powder Blue 1700-1725 - Page 1
Object 2011709
Dish
China
1700-1720
Height 32 mm (1.26 inch), diameter of rim 214 mm (8.43 inch), diameter of footring 122 mm (4.80 inch), weight 285 grams (10.05 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring with a slightly flaring rim. Covered with underglaze powder blue. Decorated with four pan-shaped reserves alternately filled with bamboo, a flowering prunus, a flowering aster and a rivers cape around a central medallion with various flowering plants and an insect in flight. The reverse is undecorated. On the base a rectangular paper label that reads 'China K'ang-hsi 1662-1722'.
There is a special category within Kangxi blue and white, namely 'powder blue'. This name refers to a specific technique used to decorate porcelain. Cobalt blue oxide was not applied to the surface of the dried object with a brush but was blown onto it through a hollow pipe that was covered at the opposite end with a piece of gauze. Once the object had been glazed and fired the surface showed tiny dots and patches of blue that suggest depth and create an interesting texture. Before blowing the blue, panels and cartouches could be reserved by covering the surface with paper cutouts of the desired shape. The areas beneath these were still white after firing and were subsequently filled with underglaze blue or enamelled decorations, usually of the famille verte type, sometimes in iron red, showing birds, flowering plants, landscapes or figural scenes. Gold could be added in a third firing process but it has usually worn off by now. Powder blue rarely occurs any more after 1725. It was supplanted by 'Batavia Brown', an evenly applied underglaze brown colour with panels that were filled with decorations in the more modern famille rose enamels.
Condition: A firing flaw to the footring and three frits with some very tiny fleabites to the rim.
Reference:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 148
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Powder Blue 1700-1725 - Page 1
Object 2011381
Saucer
China
1700-1720
Height 21 mm (0.82 inch), diameter of rim 110 mm (4.33 inch), diameter of footring 59 mm (2.32 inch)
Saucer on footring, slightly everted rim. Covered with underglaze powder blue. Decorated with three flying cranes around a central medallion with a fungus, reserved in white on an underglaze powder blue ground. The reverse is undecorated.
For an identically decorated saucer, please see:
Condition: A hairline to the rim.
Reference:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 148
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Powder Blue 1700-1725 - Page 1
Object 201031C
Saucer
China
1700-1720
Height 22 mm (0.87 inch), diameter of rim 113 mm (4.45 inch), diameter of footring 60 mm (2.36 inch)
Saucer on footring, slightly everted rim. Covered with underglaze powder blue. Decorated in iron-red and gold with a central reserved roundel filled with flowering plants and flying insects. The reserved golden outlined scalloped, leaf and fan-shaped border cartouches show flowering plants. The reverse is undecorated.
Condition: A hairline with four tiny fleabites to the rim and a frit to the inner footring.
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Powder Blue 1700-1725 - Page 1
Object 2011623
A miniature chamber-pot
China
1700-1720
Height 32 mm (1.85 inch), diameter of mouthrim 36 mm (0.24 inch), diameter of base 20 mm (0.55 inch), weight 27 grams (0.95 ounce (oz.))
Miniature chamber-pot on footring, spreading rim with curved handle. The outside covered with underglaze powder blue. The inside and base are undecorated.
At the beginning of the 18th century, there was a fashion among wealthy Dutch ladies to have models made on the scale of a house, the so called "doll's houses". The rooms of these doll's houses were furnished with miniature pieces of porcelain, furniture, paintings, upholstery and all other sorts of objects that would have belonged to the interior of a wealthy home. These doll's houses were very costly and certainly not meant for children to play with but were proudly displayed for friends and visitors and regarded as extremely luxurious items - counterparts of the cabinets of curiosities that were a fashionable hobby of rich men. Only a few of these doll's houses have been preserved. One example can be found in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague showing an 18th century room with porcelain miniatures in cupboards and on brackets along the wall. In reality the majority of these "miniature doll's house vases" would have been part of the interior. A good example of an authentic porcelain room is the famous cabinet in Pommersfelden Castle, Germany, where groups of pieces on brackets are surrounded by these miniature vases lining the borders of the consoles. (Jörg & Flecker 2001, pp.50-51)
Condition: Firing flaws to the inner rim and footring.
References:
Price: Sold.
Sold Ceramics - Sold Powder Blue 1700-1725 - Page 1
Object 2011124
Dish
China
1700-1720
Height 35 mm (1.37 inch), diameter of rim 182 mm (7.17 inch), diameter of footring 102 mm (4.02 inch)
Dish on footring with a flat rim and a scalloped underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Covered with underglaze powder blue and decorated with gold with flowering peony and chrysanthemum plants growing from pierced rockwork near a fence in a scalloped, double line border. On the rim a half flower heads border. The reverse is undecorated. On the base a rectangular paper collectors label that reads "K'ang Hsi 1662-1722.".
Wares decorated with powder blue ("Mazarin blue", "bleu poudré") and enamels form a specific category within the famille verte group. It is characterised by a monochrome underglaze-blue ground that shows small speckles of darker blue when examined closely. Some pieces are completely covered with powder blue, usually with a decoration in overglaze gold. (Jörg 2011/2, p.103) When new, the shining gold design on the dark blue must have been striking, but now the overglaze gold has slightly worn of. Sometimes the decoration has been regilded in Europe, often in a thick, heavy gold which impairs the elegance of the original. Fortunately, this dish has kept its original gold decoration.
For a similarly, decorated in powder blue and gold later dish, please see:
For a garniture decorated in powder blue and gold, please see:
Condition: Wear to the decoration.
References:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 147
Price: Sold.
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